After owning my shiny new C9.25 Carbon Fibre XLT for 5 weeks and only having 1 clear night (yes I know Melbourne weather is @#$%!) I have been waiting for a clear night to whack the camera on the back and see how she performs.
Last night it finally cleared up at about 10pm and because of full moon and wanting to test the optics I choose a nice bright Southern Hemisphere globular cluster called 47 Tucanae also known as NGC104.
This shot is a set of 10 x 1 min Luminance Frames and 10 x 1 min R G B all unbinned Taken with an SBIG ST-2000XM. No flats taken or applied.
I also noticed that I had a very stange background pattern In the RAW frames which turned out to be frosting on the chip that I removed with processing so its not the best test of the
optics.
I have not collimated the scope since it arrived in the shipping box from the USA, but the star tests seem pretty good. I have some bobs knobs to install but did not want to waist the 1st night in 5 weeks mucking about collimating.
Overall I am very happy with this first light especially with how
well the scope held focus with a 4 degree temp shift. Any
thoughts/comments appreciated.
Top work Chris , must be pretty cool to get all that gear working together.....the weather 4000km west of you hasnt been to flash either {only used DSLr focus once grrr}
The scope was mounted on a very well polar aligned Losmandy G-11 with Gemini Lvl 3.
I imported the OTA directly from OPT in the USA. Ota was $1360 US plus about $300 shipping plus about $200au import duty/gst. Took 5 days from time of order till it was in my hands. I have no affiliation with this company but hey are just awesome to deal with. I have bought a ton of gear off them now and am impressed with service every time.
I looked long and hard for what scope to get. I have a few good APO's but wanted more apperture for higher res deepsky imaging. My search ended up at the C9.25 in terms of bang for buck. They have the best reputation for mirror quality on any of the SCT's, and for that focal range and apperture there is not much under $8000 around.
Ths only problem I have had with mine is that with my portable setup, the collimation seems to drift quite a bit more than the C8 ever did. It's not a major, as I getting pretty good at tweaking it back in. Actaully you've reminded me to order some bob's knobs for it.
Keep us updated on how you go with the new tube. I'm sure you'll like it. Also be keen to see some more images from that ST2000 CCD. Your all set now!
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comments.... Earlier ones were focussed manually without DSLRFocus. Once I got the collimation right the focus was easier too.
All were taken using f/6.3 focal reducer.
I experimented with a few with 2 pieces of thin wire across the front to get diffraction spikes. Works quite well. Only need thin wire (0.5mm.sq).
You should be able to get some stunning shots with the ST2000. Make sure you post 'em here first!
Cheers
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{only used DSLr focus once grrr}
very sharp and tracking is perfect dude. 
